Bodegas Ugalde

Established in 1882 by Felipe Ugalde, one of the founding members of the Rioja D.O.C., Bodegas Ugalde it is one of the few wineries which made wine during the Spanish Civil War (1936 -1938). Nestled between the North shore of the Ebro River and the Eastern-most skirts of the Sierra de Cantabria, the Ugalde team looked back on history and were inspired by Ugalde’s vision of 1882: Bringing Rioja terroir, as the new team understands it, into each bottle of Bodegas Ugalde.

An elegant red wine with hints of liquorice and dark fruit both on the nose and the palate. Well-structured and easy to drink due to a low level of tannins.

Try it with ham or a mild hard cheese, although it will stand up to most meaty dishes.

The grapes come from the best areas within Rioja for Tempranillo, and are picked at optimum ripeness. Once at the winery the grapes are crushed and the juice fermented in steel tanks for around 4 weeks, with regular spraying of the skin cap to ensure good and even extraction of colour and tannins. Minimal chemical additions are made to the wine, and the acidity is balanced to ensure a lovely degree of freshness. Once finished fermenting the wine is transferred off its lees after 1 month and then settled and racked several times before bottling

Wine Merchant Top 100, Highly Commended, 2022.